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'Murder part of conspiracy'

The phone call Fatima unceasingly prayed for over the last three weeks never came. On Friday morning, the heavily pregnant 25-year-old heard on TV that her husband had died in Pune’s Yerwada Jail.

| TNN | Updated: Jun 9, 2012, 04:29 IST

NEW DELHI: The phone call Fatima unceasingly prayed for over the last three weeks never came. On Friday morning, the heavily pregnant 25-year-old heard on TV that her husband had died in Pune’s Yerwada Jail. Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui (27), a suspect in four terror attacks in the country and alleged to be close to Indian the Mujahideen founders — the Bhatkal brothers — was reportedly strangled.
Siddiqui’s parents in Darbhanga, Bihar, are still in the dark about the murder but Fatima and the rest of his family — residents of a shabby lane near New Delhi station — see it as a “planned conspiracy”.

Siddiqui’s brother Shakeel says he cannot bear to face his family. “We are being ostracized without a chance to defend. Today, he has been murdered and we do not know if a preliminary FIR has been lodged. Forget a probe, we do not know whom to approach to get the body.’’ His voice quavers with despair and anger. “It is a day’s story for you, but our fight has only got longer.’’

The family believes Siddiqui’s transfer to Yerwada without their knowledge marked the start of the ‘conspiracy’.

“We visited Tihar Jail the second time after he was brought back from Bangalore. The prison authorities told us that he had been shifted to a high-security prison in Pune. That was in mid-May. Thereafter, we received only a four-minute call from him. For the past five days, we had been demanding to be allowed to talk to him. Every day, we were told we would hear about him soon. Was this the news they were trying to give us?’’ says Fatima.

Shakeel says he contacted Delhi Police, its special cell and even the Pune jail.

“The Delhi cops gave us the number of a Pune jail official. After trying for an hour, we got through to him and were given another number, which proved to be a dead end. Delhi Police says the postmortem will be done in Pune and they have no role to play. Why can’t we be given the body?’’

“Qateel was present at Gauhar Aziz Khomani’s (another accused) marriage when police claim he carried out a terror attack. The whole village is witness to that. How can that be falsified? Police claim they arrested him on November 22, but he was picked up from our entrance. He was tortured. Yet, no one came forward to highlight our plight,’’ says Shakeel.

Delhi Police’s special cell, though, told TOI that if Siddiqui’s family wants to bring his body to Delhi, they will help it.

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